TO THE HILT

I became quite fascinated with Golden Earring after hearing MOONTAN for the first time, so I wanted to satiate my desire to hear more of them. Somehow, TO THE HILT first caught my eye, and it's still taking some time for my ear to catch up.

The classic four of Golden Earring has been updated to include Robert van Stips, formerly of the proggy Dutch group Supersister. That would incline that TO THE HILT is aimed to be a proggier record than what came before it in Golden Earring's history, and I can hear that. That is, except that MOONTAN exists, and I feel that album had as much to do with prog as this one. Interestingly enough, there are huge traces of American boogie rock that shape this album too. Again, from the band that wrote ''Suzy Lunacy'', it shouldn't be too surprising; it's the only style I can categorise the title track with. But it sounds like the band really didn't know how to approach the style of TO THE HILT; it sounds like a weird hybrid of boogie and prog.

This is a strange record to describe. Most of the songs have a good bounce/rhythm to them, but not in any prog or climactic building sense. ''Why Me'' and ''Sleepwalkin'' are rich in funk textures (with the wah bass in the latter), and are groovy enough to stay afloat. ''Facedancer'' happens to be my overall favorite track, mostly in its acoustic rhythm, but it's still hard to categorise. The prog attempts are in ''Nomad'' and ''Violins''. ''Violins'' aims to be the epic closer of the album, but lacks power. ''Nomad'' does a better job at this with the standard rhythm of the album in the first half, then taking a Floydian atmospheric turn for the better.

This is a rather confusing album that never gains any traction musically. Discover early 70's Golden Earring before taking a risk with TO THE HILT. Even a keyboardist from a Cantebury- sounding band can't elevate the prog potential into something masterful.